Kei Kurono
}} |- ! Debut | 001. An Incident 297. Stirrings Within The Black Sphere (Kurono Clone) |- ! (Current) Final Appearance | ongoing |- ! Seiyu | Namikawa Daisuke |- ! Voice Actor | Chris Ayres |- | style="font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | Profile |- ! Age | 17 |- ! Current Status | Alive (Revived) |- ! Relatives | *Kurono Kenichi (father) *Kurono Yoko (mother) *Kurono Akira (brother, deceased) |- |} Kei Kurono (玄野 計, Kurono Kei) is the protagonist of Gantz. He is a 10th grader summoned by Gantz, along with Kato, after being hit by a subway train in an effort to help a hobo passed out on the tracks. Initially Gantz refers to Kurono as "Bitch" and "Loser," though he settles on "Kurono" as the series progresses. In the beginning, he is a rather selfish character who often ends up being the reluctant hero. At one point, Kurono actually enjoys the brutal missions, having a chance to prove his mettle and to use the power Gantz's technology grants him to decimate his foes, as well as to receive the admiration of his team members (such as Sei or Kishimoto). This ceases after the death of Kato, where he becomes frightened of the missions and hesitates to act as recklessly as he had in the past. Another deciding factor in Kurono's decision to prioritize brains over force is his growing attachment to Kojima Tae. He starts to believe that he must come back alive in order to be with her. Kurono is eventually regarded as a hero by the other players who look up to him (he takes up Kato's philosophy that everyone should come back alive, ironic considering that Kato had tried to model himself after Kurono's younger self). To increase the survival of the Gantz Team members, Kurono holds meetings at his apartment where the team discusses missions and practice using the suits. These meetings appear to help greatly during the Oni mission as nearly all of the members survive in spite of the outstanding number of enemies. At the end of the mission, Kurono requests the revival of Kato and Nishi Joichiro. In Chapter 221, Kei leaves the game at the behest of his teammates. Kurono's memories of the hunts are supposedly erased, however he begins to remember his old life through pictures in his apartment. In addition, he rekindles his relationship with his former girlfriend Tae, whom he had forgotten because of his memory wipe. A meeting with a tabloid journalist also stirs up more Gantz-related memories and questions. In Chapter 236, he recovers some of his lost memories of being the Gantz team leader after being attacked by a group of vampires in his apartment. He fights bravely and nearly kills all of them using a "sun gun", although in the end he is slain by the same vampire that slew his brother, Kurono Akira. Kurono was dead as of the end of Phase 1, however Kato Masaru had planned to revive him. After an extremely hard fought mission, in which a team of highly skilled Gantz players from Osaka were all but defeated, Kato held good on his promise and revived Kurono at the end of Chapter 279. Kei has been revived in his Gantz suit and with memory up to the oni mission. Personality and Fighting Style Throughout the entire first two arcs Kei is seen as selfish, hesitant, and reckless, however his entire view on life and the Gantz games change after watching Kato's determination to keep everyone alive. After Kato and Kishimoto die during the Buddha aliens, he finds it in himself to overcome most of his fears and takes it upon himself to make Kato's mission a reality(To keep all of the players alive through the missions). As the missions go on, he is regarded as a "hero" and "leader" by the new members in the Gantz Tokyo team. Kei has been known to fight recklessly against the aliens, going up against the Rowdy and Grumpy Buddha aliens by himself, and against the Kappe Alien's Brachiosaurus. Originally he fought so hard, just to survive, and this the time he felt truly alive. Later he thinks of Tae during battle, determined to make it home again to see her. Izumi mentioned once that no one should be able to do what Kei does, and doesn't understand how Kei is so strong. Kei's strength and biggest change in personality after Arc 1 from was mostly a result of him being together with Tae. Sometimes he is seen leading people, or going with someone, other times he goes off on his own. Kei had been shown to skillfully make use of all of the Gantz equipment. Unlike the rest, he had sense to take an x-gun home and test it out, and figured out that the x-shotgun can lock onto multiple targets and fire at them all at once. Current Events After being revived by his friend Kato and received the news from Nishi that the world will end in 1 week, Kei has spent more time with his girlfriend Tae and is seen at the Tokyo Gantz team meeting with Nishi talking about the "End of the World" in 1 week's time. As Kurono enjoys and wastes his last days together with Tae, Reika visited his apartment and confessed her love to him, asking to sleep with him, but he rejects her saying he can't understand as to why she would have any feelings for him and tells her they are "worlds apart", meaning he is just a High school student and she is a celebrity. Kurono and the others have been recently transferred to the Gantz room, there he wonders if "this is our final mission" and gives a speech to everyone on how their bold determination and skills have gotten them this far. He and the others have been transported to an unknown country for their supposedly final battle where other Gantz players have also been transferred to. Kurono and the team are sent to Italy where the final battle with the Roman aliens is taking place, he and the rest of his team witnesses the amazing power of the Roman statue aliens as they break his and Kato's Gantz sword with ease. Along the way Kurono picks up an H-Gun and fights together with Kato, both of them witnessing Inaba being crushed to death. They fight the giant statue that killed Inaba with Kato being transported out by Gantz. Before being teleported himself the left side of Kurono's body (including half his face and his left arm) are blown off by the statue while Kurono does significant damage to the alien. At the end of the last mission, Kurono yelled at Gantz for not resurrecting Suzuki after requested by Reika. He later calmed down and left the room with the others. When Reika came back in, she ended up resurrecting a 2nd Kurono instead of Suzuki, although unwillingly. The copy appears with his suit on and an H-Gun in hand. Kurono later runs into 2nd Kurono who tries to get Kurono to switch places with him. Kurono refuses and says he belongs to Tae and the second Kurono should stay with Reika to make her happy. After waking up one day and noticing people standing around looking at the sky, Kurono sees that it has turned red. Quickly putting on his suit and stuffing his H-gun in a bag he meets up with Tae and while on the train he swears to himself that he will only protect Tae. At school that same day, Kei gets into a fight with some students and is sent to the office after school and while in the office he watches a TV that shows the destruction of America. After a while, he sees the arrival of giant machines with the same tecnology as Gantz arrive in Tokyo, that soon starts to destroy everything in their way. He then goes with Tae to the roof of the school, to see how some of this kind of machines are going directly to them. Kurono decides to fight until then end, so he and Tae could survive. Two machines arrives at the front of the school, where they intend to kill everyone that was outside, yet Kurono uses the H-Gun with his suit to attack both of them. Then he discovers that the machines were actually suits, with a creature similar to Gantz inside. One of this aliens tries to kill the director of the school, but Kurono saves him by killing the alien with the H-Gun. Later, the second alien tries to kill Kurono, killing one of his classmates instead, while he escapes with Tae on his arms. Kurono tries to run from the alien, but the creature matches his speed. Then, he throws Tae away so he can fight alone the alien, succesfully punching it in the leg. As the wounded alien starts to get away Kei is about to shoot him with the H-Gun but then unexpectedly lets it go. The Principal questions Kurono about what he just did and what is happening but Kurono just ignores him and walks away with Tae. The second Kurono along with Reika battle numerous aliens. Together they save many people from the invaders. Reika tries to rescue people while the second Kurono fights off the aliens. While fighting the aliens, dodging their razor discs, he crashes into the ground on his back. The aliens prepare to fire at him when they all suddenly flatten into the ground. Reika comes to help the surprised second Kurono when suddenly unknown Gantzer appear around them. Category:Male Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Revived Characters Category:Gantz Players Characters Category:Characters from Tokyo, Japan